Rolf Berend (PPE-DE). – (DE) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, there are many ways of tackling the lasting effects of the unforeseen financial and economic crisis. This revision package, this legislative measure within the European Economic Recovery Plan, was conceived as a good – albeit not quite sufficient – response to this temporary, though exceptionally critical, situation.

It responds, amongst other things, to the request for greater simplification of procedures and increased flexibility in the application of the existing rules under the Structural Funds Regulation that has been repeatedly put forward by the European Parliament in recent years. I should like to emphasise that it is also to be welcomed that an amendment to Article 7 – ‘Eligibility of Expenditure’ – is to enable EU Member States and regions to invest in energy-efficiency and renewable-energy measures in housing with the support of the EU Structural Funds, and that this measure is not only intended for low-income households. The relevant amendment rightly eliminates the reference to ‘low-income households’, therefore, and instead imposes a ceiling of 4% of the total European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) allocation for each Member State for such expenditure. This is just one of the many improvements proposed.

In short, bringing this overall package to fruition would accelerate expenditure and thus make available further liquidity from the ERDF, European Social Fund (ESF), Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds for the implementation of the necessary objectives, and would simplify rules allowing for a speedy implementation of programmes.

In my opinion, this represents an effective, albeit as yet insufficient, contribution to dealing with the current crisis.